Information processing system

ABSTRACT

An information processing system includes one or more acquiring devices and an image forming apparatus. The acquiring devices acquire proceedings information indicating meeting content from a plurality of participants participating in a meeting. The image forming apparatus deletes unnecessary information that is unnecessary as transcript content from the proceedings information and generates transcript information indicating the transcript content. According to the information processing system, work of deleting the unnecessary information from the transcript decreases, and an amount of work for a worker can be mitigated.

INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 toJapanese Patent Application Nos. 2017-105621 and 2017-105622, filed onMay 29, 2017. The contents of these applications are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates to an information processing system.

A transcript generating system includes a transcript generating deviceand a plurality of information terminals. Each information terminal isused by a different participant in a meeting. The information terminaldisplays meeting material. The transcript generating device convertsspoken content during the meeting into character information. Thetranscript generating device associates the character information withmaterial information to generate a transcript. The material informationindicates the meeting material. The material information is acquiredfrom the information terminal.

SUMMARY

An information processing system according to the present disclosureincludes one or more acquiring devices and a terminal device. Theacquiring devices acquire proceedings information indicating meetingcontent from a plurality of participants participating in a meeting. Theterminal device deletes unnecessary information that is unnecessary astranscript content from the proceedings information and generatestranscript information indicating the transcript content.

An information processing system according to the present disclosureincludes one or more acquiring devices and a terminal device. Theacquiring devices acquire proceedings information indicating meetingcontent following a time line from a plurality of participantsparticipating in a meeting. The terminal device specifies question andanswer content indicating content of a question and an answer between aquestioner and a presenter among the plurality of participants from thetranscript information. The terminal device generates transcriptinformation indicating transcript content based on the question andanswer content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an information processing systemaccording to embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an acquiring device accordingto the embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an image formingapparatus according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a first transcriptformed on a sheet.

FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a second transcriptformed on a sheet.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a generation process of transcriptinformation by a controller according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a generation process of thetranscript information by the controller according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described as follows withreference to the drawings. However, the present disclosure is notlimited to the following embodiments. It should be noted that elementsin the drawings that are the same or equivalent are labelled using thesame reference signs and description thereof is not repeated.

First Embodiment

An information processing system 1 according to a first embodiment ofthe present disclosure will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG.1 is a block diagram illustrating the information processing system 1according to the present embodiment. According to the presentembodiment, the information processing system 1 produces a transcript.Character information is recorded in the transcript. The characterinformation indicates content of a meeting.

Herein, a meeting is defined as something in which multiple participantsparticipate to make a decision, for example. The meeting may also be aspeech or a lecture according to the present disclosure. A speech isdefined as something in which talking proceeds according to a subject. Alecture is defined as something in which talking proceeds about a methodand an outcome of study.

The participants include a presenter and a questioner, for example. Thepresenter describes presentation content using material, for example.The presenter also answers a question from the questioner. Thequestioner asks a question about a description of the presentationcontent.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the information processing system 1 includes aplurality of acquiring devices 2, an image forming apparatus 3, and apresenter terminal 7. In the information processing system 1, theacquiring devices 2, the image forming apparatus 3, and the presenterterminal 7 are connected through a communication network L. Examples ofthe communication network L include the Internet, a wide area network(WAN), and a local area network (LAN).

The presenter terminal 7 is a notebook personal computer, for example.The presenter terminal 7 stores a plurality of materials. The materialsare used in the meeting when the presenter describes the presentationcontent. The materials are images exhibiting slides, for example. Theslides include material images, character images, and augmented reality(AR) markers. An AR marker is for distinguishing one material fromanother material.

The presenter terminal 7 includes a display section, for example. Thepresenter terminal 7 displays the materials in order on the displaysection in the meeting. As a result, the participants can see thematerials through the display section. Note that the presenter terminal7 may display the materials in order on a wall of a meeting room througha projector, for example. Also, the presenter terminal 7 may display thematerials in order on displays of notebook personal computers possessedby the participants, for example.

The presenter terminal 7 outputs material information to the imageforming apparatus 3 after the meeting has ended, for example. Thematerial information is information in which each of the materials isassociated with a time line according to when the material was used inthe meeting. Specifically, the material information includes thematerials and usage information. The usage information indicates wheneach material was used in the meeting in the form of the time line. Notethat the presenter terminal 7 may output the material information to theimage forming apparatus 3 before the meeting begins, for example. Inthis case, the material information is information in which each of thematerials is associated with a scheduled time line according to when thematerial is to be used in the meeting.

The acquiring devices 2 acquire proceedings information from theparticipants. The proceedings information indicates the content of themeeting in the form of a time line. Each of the participants possessesan acquiring device 2. According to the present embodiment, theproceedings information includes voice information and proceedings imageinformation. The voice information indicates spoken content and speakingvolume of the participant. The proceedings image information indicatesan image exhibiting an environment in a field of view of theparticipant. Each acquiring device 2 outputs the proceedings informationto the image forming apparatus 3.

Each acquiring device 2 includes a recording section 21 and an imagingsection 22. The recording section 21 records the voice of a participant.The recording section 21 outputs the recorded voice to the image formingapparatus 3 as the proceedings information. The imaging section 22records a proceedings image. Typically, the proceedings image is avideo. The imaging section 22 outputs the proceedings image to the imageforming apparatus 3 as the proceedings information.

The image forming apparatus 3 is an example of a terminal deviceaccording to the present disclosure. The image forming apparatus 3includes an input section 31, an image forming section 32, and acontroller 4. The image forming section 32 forms an image on a recordingmedium based on image data. According to the present embodiment, theimage forming section 32 produces a transcript on the recording mediumbased on transcript information. The transcript information indicatestranscript content.

The input section 31 outputs an operation signal to the controller 4.The operation signal corresponds to an operation of an operator whooperates the image forming apparatus 3. The operation of the operatorincludes various settings of the image forming apparatus 3, for example.

The controller 4 includes a processor and storage, for example. Theprocessor is a central processing unit (CPU), for example. The storageincludes semiconductor memory and a hard disk drive (HDD), for example.The processor controls the input section 31 and the image formingsection 32 according to a computer program. The computer program isprestored in the storage.

The storage stores the proceedings information inputted from eachacquiring device 2. The storage stores the proceedings information inassociation with the participants. In detail, the storage prestoresidentification numbers of the acquiring devices 2, individual names ofthe participants, and classification of the participants. Theidentification numbers mean numbers that are assigned to the respectiveacquiring devices 2. The identification numbers are used to identifyindividual acquiring devices 2. The individual names of the participantsare stored in association with the identification numbers. In otherwords, the participants and the acquiring devices 2 are stored inassociation with each other. The classification of the participants isstored in association with the identification numbers. Theclassification of the participants indicates whether or not theparticipants are first participants. The first participants include thepresenter. The first participants further include predeterminedparticipants among the participants aside from the presenter. Theclassification of the participants further indicates whether or not eachfirst participant is the presenter. The storage stores the proceedingsinformation in association with the identification numbers. As a result,the proceedings information is stored in the storage in association witheach of the participants.

The storage also stores the material information inputted from thepresenter terminal 7. The storage stores the material information inassociation with the identification number of an acquiring device 2 usedby the presenter.

The controller 4 generates the transcript information based on theproceedings information and the material information. The processor ofthe controller 4 functions as a searching section 41, a generatingsection 42, a specifying section 43, a first adjuster 44, and a secondadjuster 45 according to the computer program. The searching section 41,the generating section 42, the specifying section 43, the first adjuster44, and the second adjuster 45 will later be described in detail withreference to FIGS. 4A and 4B.

Next, a configuration of the acquiring devices 2 will be furtherdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 2 is a perspective viewillustrating an acquiring device 2. As illustrated in FIG. 2, theacquiring device 2 further includes a main body 23 in addition to therecording section 21 and the imaging section 22. According to thepresent embodiment, the acquiring device 2 is a head mounted display.

The main body 23 has a U-shape. The main body 23 is mounted on the headof a participant. The main body 23 supports the recording section 21 andthe imaging section 22. The recording section 21 includes a frame and amicrophone, for example. The frame extends from the main body 23. Themicrophone is placed on or near a front end of the frame. The microphoneis located near the mouth of the participant when the main body 23 ismounted on the head of the participant. As a result, the recordingsection 21 can record the voice of the participant.

The imaging section 22 includes a frame and an image sensor. The frameextends from the main body 23. The image sensor is placed on or near afront end of the frame. The image sensor is a charge-coupled device(CCD) image sensor, for example. The image sensor is located near an eyeof the participant when the main body 23 is mounted on the head of theparticipant. As a result, the imaging section 22 can record theproceedings image. Note that the acquiring device 2 may include alavalier microphone to be mounted on the chest of the participant, andan image sensor colocated with the lavalier microphone, for example.

Next, a configuration of the image forming apparatus 3 will be furtherdescribed with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. FIG. 3 is a diagramillustrating the configuration of the image forming apparatus 3. Asillustrated in FIG. 3, the image forming apparatus 3 is a multifunctionperipheral. The multifunction peripheral includes a printer function,for example. The multifunction peripheral also includes at least one ofthe following functions, for example: a copy function and a facsimilefunction.

The image forming apparatus 3 further includes a sheet feed section 33,a fixing section 34, and an ejection table 35 in addition to the inputsection 31, the image forming section 32, and the controller 4. Theimage forming apparatus 3 forms an image on a sheet S fed from the sheetfeed section 33. The sheet S is an example of a recording mediumaccording to the present disclosure. Examples of the sheet S includeplain paper, copy paper, recycled paper, thin paper, thick paper, glossypaper, or overhead projector (OHP) transparency.

The image forming section 32 includes an image bearing member 32 a, acharger 32 b, an exposure section 32 c, a development section 32 d, anda transfer section 32 e. The image forming section 32 forms a tonerimage on the sheet S. The fixing section 34 fixes the toner image to thesheet S. The sheet S with the toner image fixed thereon is ejected tothe ejection table 35.

The input section 31 includes a display, for example. The displaydisplays various screens. The input section 31 also includes a touchpanel function.

Next, the controller 4 will be further described with reference to FIGS.1, 4A, and 4B. First, the transcript according to the present embodimentwill be described with reference to FIGS. 4A and 4B. The transcript isdivided into a first transcript A1 and a second transcript A2. FIG. 4Ais a diagram illustrating an example of the first transcript A1 formedon a sheet S. FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of the secondtranscript A2 formed on a sheet S. The first transcript A1 exhibits thepresentation content of the presenter. The second transcript A2 exhibitsquestion and answer content of the presenter and the questioner.

As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the first transcript A1 is formed on a sheetS. The first transcript A1 includes a plurality of slides G anddescriptions D of each slide G. Each description D exhibits descriptioncontent from the presenter corresponding to a slide G. The description Dis located directly beneath the corresponding slide G. In the firsttranscript A1, the slides G and the descriptions D are arranged in anorder that corresponds to the time line of the meeting, for example.

The descriptions D include a description D1 and a description D2. Thedescription D2 is an emphasized portion, and is formed in boldcharacters so as to have more emphasis than the description D1. Notethat the description D2 may have a different color than the descriptionD1, for example. The description D2 may also be underlined.

As illustrated in FIG. 4B, the second transcript A2 is formed on a sheetS. The second transcript A2 includes a plurality of slides G, questionsN, and answers M for each question N. Each question N exhibits questioncontent of a questioner. Each answer M exhibits answer content of thepresenter corresponding to a question N. In the second transcript A2,the slides G, questions N, and answers M are arranged in an order thatcorresponds to the time line of the meeting, for example. Each questionN is located directly beneath a corresponding slide G. Each answer M islocated directly beneath a corresponding question N.

The questions N include a question N1 and a question N2. The answers Minclude an answer M1 and an answer M2. The question N2 and the answer M2are emphasized portions, and are formed in bold characters so as to havemore emphasis than the question N1 and the answer M1. Note that thequestion N2 and the answer M2 may have a different color than thequestion N1 and the answer M1, for example. The question N2 and theanswer M2 may also be underlined.

Continuing, the controller 4 will be further described with reference toFIGS. 1, 4A, and 4B. The controller 4 described with reference to FIG. 1generates the transcript information based on the proceedingsinformation and the material information. The controller 4 also directsthe image forming section 32 to form an image exhibiting the content ofthe first transcript A1 on a sheet S based on the transcriptinformation. The controller 4 further directs the image forming section32 to form an image exhibiting the content of the second transcript A2on a sheet S based on the transcript information.

The searching section 41 searches for unnecessary information based onthe proceedings information. The unnecessary information indicatescontent that is not necessary to include in the transcript content. Theunnecessary information is chatting between fellow participants in themeeting, for example. Voices indicating chatting are low in volume.

According to the present embodiment, the searching section 41 searchesfor the unnecessary information based on the proceedings information ofsecond participants. The second participants are participants aside fromthe first participants among the plurality of participants. Thesearching section 41 specifies the proceedings information of the secondparticipants from the proceedings information of the plurality ofparticipants based on the classification of the participants stored inthe storage. The searching section 41 searches for low volume areas thatare unnecessary information in the voice information included in theproceedings information of the second participants. The low volume areasare areas in which a speaking volume is lower than a first threshold ina time line of the voices. The first threshold is preset.

The generating section 42 deletes the unnecessary information from theproceedings information and generates the transcript information. Indetail, the generating section 42 deletes the unnecessary informationfrom the voice information included in the proceedings information ofeach second participant. The generating section 42 then generatescharacter information based on the voice information from which theunnecessary information has been deleted. The generating section 42generates the character information from the voice information by usingspeech recognition, for example. The character information indicates aplurality of character strings. The generating section 42 also generatesthe character information based on the voice information included in theproceedings information of the first participants. The generatingsection 42 stores the character information in the storage.Specifically, the generating section 42 arranges the character stringsto follow the time line of the meeting and stores the character stringsin the storage.

According to the present embodiment, the generating section 42classifies the character strings. The generating section 42 classifiesthe character strings into two classes: character strings exhibiting thepresentation content and character strings exhibiting the question andanswer content. In detail, the generating section 42 specifies questionand answer periods in the time line of the meeting based on theproceedings information and the character information. The generatingsection 42 specifies character strings indicating voices spoken duringeach question and answer period to be character strings exhibiting thequestion and answer content from among the character strings. Thequestion and answer periods are periods in the time line of the meetingbetween question and answer beginnings and question and answer endings.According to the present embodiment, the generating section 42 alsospecifies other character strings to be character strings exhibiting thepresentation content from among the character strings. The othercharacter strings to be specified as exhibiting the presentation contentare character strings aside from the character strings indicating thevoices spoken during the question and answer periods.

The generating section 42 specifies a question and answer beginningbased on the character information. The question and answer beginning iswhen speech of the participants other than the presenter begins. Indetail, the generating section 42 specifies the character stringsindicating voices other than that of the presenter to be questions Nbased on the character strings. The generating section 42 specifies atime at which a question N begins to be spoken in the time line of themeeting to be the question and answer beginning.

The generating section 42 specifies a question and answer ending basedon the proceedings information and the character information. Thegenerating section 42 determines whether or not the character stringsinclude specific character strings following the questions N based onthe character strings, for example. The generating section 42 specifiesthe question and answer ending depending on the positions of thespecified character strings in the time line. The question and answerending is when speech corresponding to a specific character string hasended. The specific character strings are preset. Typically, thespecific character strings are “understood” and “thank you”, forexample.

The generating section 42 also determines the question and answer endingbased on the proceedings image of the presenter from the proceedingsinformation, for example. In detail, the generating section 42 specifiesa participant exhibited in the proceedings image of the presenter afterthe question and answer beginning to be a questioner. The generatingsection 42 determines whether or not the proceedings image includes aparticipant by using facial recognition, for example. After specifyingthe questioner, the generating section 42 measures the period duringwhich the questioner is absent from the proceedings image of thepresenter. The generating section 42 specifies the timing at which themeasured period has exceeded a predetermined period to be the questionand answer ending.

The generating section 42 specifies the character strings between thequestion and answer beginning and the question and answer ending to becharacter strings indicating the question and answer content. Thegenerating section 42 specifies the character strings indicating thevoice of the presenter among the character strings indicating thequestion and answer content to be the answers M. The generating section42 also specifies the character strings indicating the voices other thanthat of the presenter among the character strings indicating thequestion and answer content to be the questions N.

The generating section 42 generates transcript information indicatingthe first transcript A1 based on the material information and thecharacter strings indicating the presentation content. In detail, thegenerating section 42 rearranges the slides G in the storage area tofollow the time line. The generating section 42 also rearranges thecharacter strings indicating the presentation content in the storagearea to follow the time line as the descriptions D. As a result, eachdescription D is located directly beneath the slide G to which thedescription D corresponds. Note that the descriptions D placed directlybeneath the slides G may be divided into a plurality of levels based ona timing of the speech of the presenter. Specifically, the generatingsection 42 divides the descriptions D into separate levels in thestorage area when the presenter has not spoken for more than apredetermined period.

The generating section 42 generates transcript information indicatingthe second transcript A2 based on the material information and thecharacter strings indicating the question and answer content. In detail,the generating section 42 rearranges the slides G in the storage area tofollow the time line. The generating section 42 also rearranges thequestions N and the answers M in the storage area to follow the timeline. As a result, the questions N and the answers M are locateddirectly beneath the slides G.

The specifying section 43 specifies the emphasized portions that areemphasized in the transcript. According to the present embodiment, anemphasized portion is a portion of the descriptions D, the questions N,and the answers M. The emphasized portion is formed in bold characterson the sheet S.

The specifying section 43 specifies periods in which the proceedingsimages of the participants aside from the presenter indicate a specificimage. The specific image is the material used in the meeting. Thematerial used in the meeting is an image exhibiting a slide G. Accordingto the present embodiment, the images indicating the slides G arespecified depending on whether or not the image includes an AR marker.The specifying section 43 specifies the periods in which the specificimage is indicated for each of the proceedings images of theparticipants aside from the presenter.

The specifying section 43 calculates a number of proceedings imagesindicating the specific image during periods that overlap in the timeline of the meeting. This is done after the periods in which thespecific image is indicated have been specified for each of theproceedings images of the participants aside from the presenter. As aresult, the number of participants viewing a given slide G at the sametime in the time line of the meeting is specified. The specifyingsection 43 specifies the character strings indicating voices during aperiod in which the periods overlap to be the emphasized portions whenthe specified number of proceedings images is greater than a secondthreshold. The second threshold is preset.

The specifying section 43 edits the transcript information so that theemphasized portions are formed in bold characters. Note that thespecifying section 43 may specify images exhibiting the slides G byusing image recognition, for example, instead of the AR markers.

The first adjuster 44 adjusts the first threshold when excess ordeficiency information is inputted after the transcript information hasbeen generated. The excess or deficiency information indicates an excessor a deficiency of the transcript content.

The first adjuster 44 reduces the first threshold when the deficiencyinformation indicating deficient transcript content is inputted, forexample. As a result, for example, the unnecessary information to befound in the proceedings information by the searching section 41decreases and the transcript content increases when the transcript isgenerated again. According to the present embodiment, the number of thequestions N increases. The first adjuster 44 also increases the firstthreshold when the excess information indicating excessive transcriptcontent is inputted, for example. As a result, for example, theunnecessary information to be found in the proceedings information bythe searching section 41 increases and the transcript content decreaseswhen the transcript is generated again. According to the presentembodiment, the number of the questions N decreases. Accordingly, workof adding or reducing the transcript content can be reduced, and anamount of work for a worker can be mitigated.

The second adjuster 45 adjusts the second threshold when excess ordeficiency information is inputted after the transcript information hasbeen generated. The excess or deficiency information indicates an excessor deficiency of emphasized portions in the transcript.

The second adjuster 45 reduces the second threshold when the deficiencyinformation indicating deficient emphasized portions is inputted, forexample. As a result, for example, the emphasized portions to bespecified by the specifying section 43 increase and the emphasizedportions in the transcript increase when the transcript is generatedagain. The second adjuster 45 also increases the second threshold whenthe excess information indicating excessive emphasized portions isinputted, for example. As a result, for example, the emphasized portionsto be specified by the specifying section 43 decrease and the emphasizedportions of the transcript decrease when the transcript is generatedagain. Accordingly, work of adding or reducing emphasized portions inthe transcript content can be reduced, and the amount of work for theworker can be mitigated.

In the information processing system 1 according to the presentembodiment, the unnecessary information from the proceedings informationindicating the transcript content is found, and the transcriptinformation indicating the transcript content in which the unnecessaryinformation has been deleted is generated. As a result, work of deletingthe unnecessary information from the transcript decreases, and theamount of work for the worker can be mitigated.

Next, a generation process of the transcript information by thecontroller 4 will be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is aflowchart illustrating the generation process of the transcriptinformation by the controller 4. The controller 4 performs thegeneration process of the transcript information when an operationsignal instructing the generation of the transcript information isinputted, after the proceedings information and the material informationhas been inputted, for example.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, after the operation signal is inputted, thecontroller 4 searches for the unnecessary information from theproceedings information based on the voices in Step S10. After findingthe unnecessary information, the controller 4 deletes the unnecessaryinformation from the proceedings information in Step S20. After deletingthe unnecessary information, the controller 4 generates the characterinformation in Step S30 based on the proceedings information from whichthe unnecessary information has been deleted.

After generating the character information, the controller 4 generatesthe transcript information indicating the transcript based on thecharacter information and the material information in Step S40. Aftergenerating the transcript information, the controller 4 specifies theemphasized portions based on the proceedings information and edits thetranscript information so as to emphasize the emphasized portions inStep S50. The controller 4 ends the generation process of the transcriptinformation after editing the transcript information.

The information processing system 1 according to the first embodiment ofthe present disclosure has been described above with reference to FIGS.1 to 5. However, the present disclosure is not limited to theabove-described embodiment and can be practiced in various ways withinthe scope not departing from the essence thereof.

Second Embodiment

In the first embodiment, the searching section 41 searches for theunnecessary information based on the proceedings information. In asecond embodiment however, a searching section 41 may search forquestion and answer content based on proceedings information. Also inthe first embodiment, the generating section 42 deletes the unnecessaryinformation from the proceedings information and generates thetranscript information. In the second embodiment however, a generatingsection 42 generates character information based on the proceedingsinformation.

The searching section 41 and the generating section 42 according to thesecond embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 4A, and4B.

The generating section 42 generates character information based on theproceedings information. In detail, the generating section 42 generatesthe character information based on each voice of a plurality ofparticipants. The generating section 42 generates the characterinformation from the voices by using speech recognition, for example.The character information indicates a plurality of character strings.The generating section 42 arranges the character strings to follow atime line of a meeting and stores the character strings in the storage.

The searching section 41 searches for question and answer content fromthe proceedings information based on the proceedings information.According to the present embodiment, the searching section 41 searchesfor character strings exhibiting the question and answer content fromthe character strings. The searching section 41 searches for thequestion and answer content, and classifies the character strings intotwo classes: character strings indicating the question and answercontent or character strings indicating presentation content. In detail,the searching section 41 specifies the character strings indicatingvoices spoken in question and answer periods to be character stringsexhibiting the question and answer content from among the characterstrings. The question and answer periods are periods in the time line ofthe meeting between question and answer beginnings and question andanswer endings. According to the present embodiment, the searchingsection 41 also specifies other character strings to be characterstrings exhibiting the presentation content among the character strings.The other character strings to be specified as exhibiting thepresentation content are character strings aside from the characterstrings indicating the voices spoken in the question and answer periods.

The searching section 41 specifies a question and answer beginning basedon the character information. The question and answer beginning is whenspeech of the participants other than a presenter begins. In detail, thesearching section 41 specifies the character strings indicating voicesother than that of the presenter to be questions N from among thecharacter strings. The searching section 41 specifies at time at whichthe questions N begin to be spoken in the time line of the meeting to bethe question and answer beginning.

The searching section 41 specifies a question and answer ending based onthe proceedings information and the character information. The searchingsection 41 determines whether or not the character strings includesspecific character strings following the questions N based on thecharacter strings, for example. The searching section 41 specifies thequestion and answer ending depending on the positions of the specifiedcharacter strings in the time line. The question and answer ending iswhen speech corresponding to a specified character string has ended. Thespecified character strings are preset. Typically, the specifiedcharacter strings are “understood” and “thank you”, for example.

The searching section 41 specifies a period in which a character stringindicating the voice of the presenter is continuous after the questionand answer beginning. When the period in which the character stringindicating the voice of the presenter is continuous exceeds a thirdthreshold in the time line of the meeting, the searching section 41specifies the continuous character string of the presenter to be acharacter string indicating the question and answer ending. The thirdthreshold is preset. In this case, the question and answer ending iswhen the continuous character string of the presenter has exceeded thethird threshold. The searching section 41 also specifies a timing atwhich the slides G change to be the question and answer ending based onmaterial information.

The searching section 41 also specifies the question and answer endingbased on the proceedings image of the presenter in the proceedingsinformation, for example. In detail, the searching section 41 specifiesa participant indicated by the proceedings image of the presenter afterthe question and answer beginning to be a questioner. The searchingsection 41 determines whether or not the proceedings image includes aparticipant by using facial recognition, for example. After specifyingthe questioner, the searching section 41 measures the period duringwhich the questioner is absent from the proceedings image of thepresenter. The searching section 41 specifies the timing at which themeasured period has exceeded a predetermined period to be the questionand answer ending. The predetermined period is a fourth threshold. Thepredetermined period is preset.

The searching section 41 specifies the character strings of the questionand answer period to be character strings exhibiting the question andanswer content. The searching section 41 specifies the character stringsindicating the voice of the presenter among the character stringsindicating the question and answer content to be the answers M. Thesearching section 41 attaches a tag indicating an answer M to eachcharacter string specified as an answer M. The tag further indicates aslide G corresponding to the answer M.

The searching section 41 also specifies the character strings indicatingthe voices other than that of the presenter to be the questions N fromamong the character strings indicating the question and answer content.The searching section 41 attaches a tag indicating a question N to eachcharacter string specified as a question N. The tag further indicates aslide G corresponding to the question N.

The searching section 41 specifies the character strings indicating thevoice of the presenter outside of the question and answer period to bethe descriptions D. The searching section 41 adds a tag indicating adescription D to each character string specified as a description D. Thetag further indicates a slide G corresponding to a position of thedescription D in the time line. Note that when specifying the questionand answer ending based on the third threshold, the searching section 41specifies a continuous character string that exceeds the third thresholdto be an answer M as well as a description D. The searching section 41attaches a tag indicating an answer M and a description D to thecharacter string that has been specified as an answer M and adescription D. The tag further indicates a slide G corresponding to thecontinuous character string.

The generating section 42 generates transcript information indicatingcontent of a first transcript A1 based on the material information andthe character strings to which the tags indicating the descriptions Dhave been attached. In detail, the generating section 42 rearranges theslides G in a storage area to follow the time line. The generatingsection 42 also places the descriptions D directly beneath the slides Gindicated by the tags in the storage area. Note that the descriptions Dplaced directly beneath the slides G may be divided into a plurality oflevels based on a timing of the speech of the presenter. Specifically,the generating section 42 divides the descriptions D into the separatelevels in the storage area when the presenter has not spoken for morethan a predetermined period.

The generating section 42 generates transcript information indicatingcontent of a second transcript A2 based on the material information, thecharacter strings to which the tags indicating the questions N have beenattached, and the character strings to which the tags indicating theanswers M have been attached. In detail, the generating section 42rearranges the slides G in the storage area to follow the time line. Thegenerating section 42 places the questions N and the answers M directlybeneath the slides G indicated by the tags in the storage area.Specifically, the questions N are placed directly beneath the slides G,and the answers M are placed directly beneath the questions N.

In the information processing system 1 according to the presentembodiment, the first transcript A1 indicating the presentation contentof the meeting and the second transcript A2 indicating the question andanswer content of the meeting can be generated based on the proceedingsinformation and the material information. Accordingly, the transcriptcontent can be prevented from becoming too long by the generation of thesecond transcript A2 as a transcript when a long description D isrecorded for a slide G.

Next, a generation process of the transcript information by thecontroller 4 will be described with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is aflowchart illustrating the generation process of the transcriptinformation by the controller 4. After the proceedings information andthe material information have been inputted, for example, the controller4 performs the generation process of the transcript information when anoperation signal instructing the generation of the transcriptinformation is inputted.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, after the operation signal has been inputted,the controller 4 generates the character information based on theproceedings information in Step S30. After generating the characterinformation, the controller 4 searches for the question and answerbeginning in Step S301. After finding the beginning, the controller 4searches for the question and answer ending in Step S303.

After finding the ending, the controller 4 specifies character stringsindicating the question and answer content and character stringsindicating the presentation content based on the beginning and theending in Step S305. After specifying the character strings, thecontroller 4 generates the transcript information indicating the contentof the first transcript A1 and the second transcript A2 based on thespecified character strings and the material information in Step S40.The controller 4 ends the generation process of the transcriptinformation after generating the transcript information.

The information processing system 1 according to the first and secondembodiments of the present disclosure has been described above withreference to FIGS. 1 to 6. However, the present disclosure is notlimited to the above-described embodiments and can be practiced invarious ways within the scope not departing from the gist of the presentdisclosure.

For example, according to the first and second embodiments of thepresent disclosure, images exhibiting the transcript content are formedon sheets S based on the transcript information. However, the presentdisclosure is not limited thereto. The transcript need only be viewableat least by the participants. For example, the transcript informationmay be outputted from the image forming apparatus 3 to personalcomputers possessed by the participants, and each participant may seethe transcript through a monitor included in the personal computer. Notethat the transcript information is outputted to the personal computersfrom the image forming apparatus 3 through e-mail or recording media,for example.

Also according to the first and second embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the image forming apparatus 3 described as an example of aterminal device generates the transcript information based on theproceedings information and the material information. However, thepresent disclosure is not limited thereto. The terminal device need onlybe able to generate the transcript information based on the proceedingsinformation and the material information. The terminal device may be apersonal computer, for example. In such a case, transcript informationmay be outputted to the image forming apparatus 3 from the terminaldevice, and images exhibiting a transcript may be formed on a sheet S bythe image forming apparatus 3.

Furthermore according to the first and second embodiments of the presentdisclosure, the acquiring devices 2, the image forming apparatus 3, andthe presenter terminal 7 are connected through the communication networkL. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The acquiringdevices 2 need only be able to output the proceedings information to theimage forming apparatus 3, and the presenter terminal 7 need only beable to output the material information to the image forming apparatus3. For example, proceedings information and material information areoutputted to an image forming apparatus 3 from the acquiring devices 2and the presenter terminal 7 through recording media.

Note that the drawings are schematic illustrations that emphasize eachelement of configuration in order to facilitate understanding thereof.Properties of the elements of configuration illustrated in the drawings,such as thicknesses and lengths thereof, may differ from actualproperties thereof in order to facilitate preparation of the drawings.Also note that properties of each element in the above-mentionedembodiments such as shapes thereof are but one example and not intendedas any specific limitation. The elements may be altered within the scopenot substantially departing from the effects of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing system, comprising: oneor more acquiring devices configured to acquire proceedings informationindicating meeting content from a plurality of participantsparticipating in a meeting; and a terminal device configured to deleteunnecessary information that is unnecessary as transcript content fromthe proceedings information and generate transcript informationindicating the transcript content, wherein the terminal devicecomprises: a searching section configured to search for the unnecessaryinformation from the proceedings information; and a generating sectionconfigured to delete the unnecessary information from the proceedingsinformation and generate the transcript information, the searchingsection searches for a voice of a participant of which volume is lowerthan a first threshold as the unnecessary information, based on theproceedings information of the participant among the plurality ofparticipants aside from first participants, and the first participantsinclude a presenter who describes presentation content in the meetingand a predetermined participant among the plurality of participantsaside from the presenter.
 2. The information processing system accordingto claim 1, wherein each of the acquiring devices comprises: a recordingsection configured to record a voice of a participant; and an imagingsection configured to record a proceedings image indicating an imagethat records an environment in a field of view of the participant, andthe proceedings information includes the voice of the participant andthe proceedings image.
 3. The information processing system according toclaim 2, wherein the terminal device specifies, for each of theproceedings images, a period in which the proceedings image indicates aspecific image, further specifies a number of the proceedings imagesindicating the specific image during periods that overlap in a time lineof the meeting, and specifies voice content of the participants during aperiod in which the periods in which the specific images are indicatedoverlap to be an emphasized portion when the number of the proceedingsimages is greater than a second threshold.
 4. The information processingsystem according to claim 3, wherein the terminal device adjusts thesecond threshold based on excess or deficiency information indicating anexcess or a deficiency of the emphasized portion in the transcriptcontent.
 5. The information processing system according to claim 1,wherein the terminal device adjusts the first threshold based on excessor deficiency information indicating an excess or a deficiency of thetranscript content.
 6. The information processing system according toclaim 1, wherein the terminal device is an image forming apparatus, andthe image forming apparatus forms an image on a recording medium basedon the transcript information.
 7. An information processing system,comprising: one or more acquiring devices configured to acquireproceedings information indicating meeting content from a plurality ofparticipants participating in a meeting; and a terminal deviceconfigured to delete unnecessary information that is unnecessary astranscript content from the proceedings information and generatetranscript information indicating the transcript content, wherein eachof the acquiring devices comprises: a recording section configured torecord a voice of a participant; and an imaging section configured torecord a proceedings image indicating an image that records anenvironment in a field of view of the participant, the proceedingsinformation includes the voice of the participant and the proceedingsimage, and the terminal device: specifies, for each of the proceedingsimages, a period in which the proceedings image indicates a specificimage, further specifies a number of the proceedings images indicatingthe specific image during periods that overlap in a time line of themeeting, and specifies voice content of the participants during a periodin which the periods in which the specific images are indicated overlapto be an emphasized portion when the number of the proceedings images isgreater than a threshold.
 8. The information processing system accordingto claim 7, wherein the terminal device adjusts the threshold based onexcess or deficiency information indicating an excess or a deficiency ofthe emphasized portion in the transcript content.
 9. The informationprocessing system according to claim 7, wherein the terminal device isan image forming apparatus, and the image forming apparatus forms animage on a recording medium based on the transcript information.